


Debts

by Afarie



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Blood, First Meetings, Gen, Violence, clint/laura (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 18:26:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7981630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Afarie/pseuds/Afarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You don't go to war without a reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Debts

**Author's Note:**

> That was meant to be a ficlet, than turned into something longer, but it didn't work, so I salvaged what I could and made this.
> 
> It's just an idea that I wanted to get out of my mind, not any longer work.  
> There may be some typos.

_some years ago_

The lack of close friends might be a pain. Who else could help in making decisions, or at least check if the decision wasn’t a complete bullshit? Even asking some random intern about it would be a right thing to do, but instead Clint went to the jewellery store alone. When afterward he met with Director Fury to talk about his future, he showed him the ring, and Fury tried hard to not use a word ‘cheesy’.

Laura said she’d never seen more beautiful thing, but she was too happy to think about it. Her joy stopped any negative emotion from reaching her when he kneeled on one knee. She only asked about a gem in the ring, because “why not purple, Hawkeye?”

Eventually she yelled at him, but for a different reason. Melinda was also kinda angry at him for it. And Phil too. Clint was delaying everything for so long, that in the end he chose to propose to her right before leaving for a mission to Europe. Agent May didn’t stop herself from smacking him for it. “Imagine how she feels now. You’ve just got engaged and she can’t even be sure she’ll ever see you again.”

Every hit he got was fully deserved.

It didn’t take long for it all to go down the drain. The tables were turned - he was sent to gain information, but ended up being the one who was interrogated. Never before had any of his operations turned into hell so quickly, and he wondered why. Maybe it was a coincidence or a planned ambush, but nonetheless he knew he’d made a mistake underestimating the enemy.

The beating was just a start. They were knocking a life out of him, making a short breaks for questions. They asked him in many languages, Clint recognised some - Hungarian, Polish, Romanian. No English could be heard. They might not know it or just didn’t noticed a logo on his vest.

Clint laughed at them, from time to time spitted blood when too much of it got into his mouth. He tried to stall, there was nothing more he could do. It worked at first, but the attackers got tired of waiting for him to cooperate and changed a tactic.

The guy who seemed to be a boss here sent one of his goons to get something. The rest got an order as well and went to execute it. They took off some his clothes starting with a vest, but he was tied to the chair, so they didn’t undress it completely. Then a thug came back and brought 'toys'.

A proper torture was about to begin.

That wasn’t some small, miserable gang. They knew what they were doing, and a thought of it sowed a seed of fear inside him. Maybe it’d been a good choice to propose to Laura before he’d left? They put the tools in front of him and he hoped, no, he prayed to whatever force that was out there for SHIELD to look for him. Otherwise the only way of getting out of this place would be in a plastic bag. In his mind he’d apologized his fiancée hundreds times for this mess before, but now he did that again and this time he breathed a sigh of relief, because at least she knew. She knew that he’d planned a life with her, that he wasn’t such a walking disaster everyone thought he was. She knew he’d tried.

Suddenly, some muffled noises from other side of the building silenced everyone in the room. At first it sounded like a quarrel, but when gun shots could be heard the situation became clear. Clint grinned, even though his bruised face didn’t make it easy.

The boss guy remained unmoved. He took most of his men with himself and left. The few who stayed were more scared about what was coming.

“Są tu przez niego,” one of them moaned. ( _They’re here because of him.)_

“Zamknij się!” others cried out. ( _Shut up!)_

They were listening, so was Clint. The fight still went on, and it was getting closer. Another bunch of goons ran out of the room and only two captors left. They were in panic, for a reason.

It was quiet. Well, there were a lot of screams and shooting, but from the one side only. Clint knew SHIELD’s ways of work. If it was them, they’d already shout commands or other stuff. It could be a local task force, but every team needed some kind of coordination. There was no team.

The moment of dead silence preceded a kick in the door. Two brutes jumped to their weapons, but they were dead before they might succeeded.

“I’m a friend! A friend!” Clint called with his weak voice. It didn’t matter who the invader was, he had better plans than ending up with a bullet in his head. A gun was pointed at him now, but a man who held it waited calmly. The guy was dressed in black uniform, very similar to those SHIELD’s field agents wore, but Clint had already lost hope that it was a rescue mission to get him back, so he didn’t bother to ask.

“A friend. Prieten? Przyjaciel?” Clint tried in different languages. The man however didn’t look like he listened, or maybe he did and just stood there enjoying Clint’s pathetic attempts to save own ass.

“I was not ordered to rescue hostages” the man remained unruffled, his voice was emotionless, as if it already hadn’t been hard to read his face because of the long hair he had. Clint’s worries only increased, and the fact that he’d managed to make contact didn’t comfort him.

For a long, awkward minute nothing happened. The man kept his position while Clint was dying from fear. Eventually, the man lowered the weapon and went closer, and he moved at ease. His calm attitude didn’t match his actions here.

A big shadow of the tall man fell on Clint when the said man stopped just a step in front of a chair. He put the free hand under Clint’s jaw to raise his head. Clint felt uncomfortable when a hard, cold surface of fingers almost cut in his skin, but he was already badly wounded, so he didn’t resist. Now he could look at the face of his ‘saviour’, because there he could notice something. The mysterious man’s face was like a stone, but his eyes weren’t so controlled. Clint didn’t see doubt or anger in them, but… a confusion?

“Your name, comrade” the man asked.

Clint hesitated, but answered. “Barton.”

“I have not any intel on you or your presence here.”

“They captured me just a day ago, maybe two,” but the man didn’t seem interested in this excuse. However, Clint wouldn’t beg for mercy like a coward, not just yet. “Release me, you won’t regret it. I know how to repay a debt.”

“I do not need your debts” he said severely and reached for a knife on his thigh. Clint opened his eyes widely and started swearing in his mind, but then saw what was really going on. The man leaned behind a chair and cut the rope, not in very gentle way. Clint got one injury more now, but he didn’t mind.

“Thanks” Clint groaned as he made a few simple moves to stretch long unused wrists.

The guy gave him a little nod and took a step back to make some space. Now Clint noticed that one of the guy’s hands which was sticking out of the sleeve was weirdly shiny, but he ignored it. After a few seconds of deep breathing, Clint found enough strength to get up, but he had to prop himself up. The pain was horrible, but bearable. He straightened a vest that was still hanging on his shoulder, but didn’t zip it to avoid rubbing wounded skin. He was ready to go, but at that moment a noise stopped him.

A knife fell on the floor. Clint quickly found out why. The man grabbed his machine gun with both hands and aimed it at Clint. This time his face showed something – he frowned. It might seem like nothing, but he’d looked more relaxed killing people minutes ago. Clint didn’t have to guess what had gone wrong, he knew he’d just screwed up. The logo on his outfit was clearly visible now and it became a bullseye for a lone invader.

Clint swallowed hard. No, it wasn’t an agent of the local government. Someone who reacted that rapidly seeing SHIELD sign couldn’t be in legal work. That guy knew SHIELD, in a first place. Clint faced a foe, and that was a great moment to start to beg.

Clint looked in guy’s eyes before speaking, but didn’t meet his gaze. The man focused on the logo, but this only made him easier to read. Clint saw it once again, the confusion. His eyes were still looking at the same thing, but they moved. It was like they were changing between a total concentration and being fully turned off. As if he couldn’t make a decision.

“I’m not the enemy,” Clint said quietly, but definitely firmer. _I just want to get out of here,_ he wanted to add, but wasn’t sure if he should. _I promised I’d return. Please._ “Please,” now he begged.

“You are the enemy,” the emotionless voice was like a stake into Clint’s heart and he prepared himself for the end. But instead the man loosened up, then turned around and headed to the door. “But I was not ordered to eliminate you.”

He left, faded away like a ghost and that was how he was remembered. The ghost.

No one believed in Clint’s story.

 

_now_

“Cap.”

“You know I wouldn’t call if I’ve had any other choice,” an obvious worry could be heard in Steve’s voice, but it didn’t matter. They’d all come here voluntarily.

Clint assured him of it. “Hey man, you’re doing me a favour,” he didn’t seem too concerned and just shook friend’s hand. “Besides, I owe a debt.”

Steve looked at Wanda. There was nothing secret about this situation. Everyone knew why Barton had left a peaceful life he wanted for himself and come back to help. At least, they saw it as the only reason.

When a new recruit was introduced, Clint stayed near the van, not being involved in the conversation. Scott was in the centre of attention now. This way Clint could do his ‘seeing better from the distance’ thing without anyone to notice it. He glanced at a guy behind the old VW Bug and a memory that showed up in his head was more than just unpleasant. He could feel all those wounds, even though it’d happened over fifteen years ago. He remembered it all, but hadn’t forgotten about a good deed.

No one knew yet. When two years ago the team had found out about Winter Soldier identity, Clint hadn’t say a word. Still, he wasn’t sure if he should tell anyone, even Steve or Bucky. I had no meaning. What mattered was the fact, that Clint was grateful. After all he’d received almost two decades of living from the brainwashed assassin, and no one understood what it meant better than Clint.

That wasn’t his war, but he came here and would face the consequences of this decision.

He had debts to pay off. Not just one.


End file.
